


Almost Like Being in Love

by urdnot_wrekt



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 02:23:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21348697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urdnot_wrekt/pseuds/urdnot_wrekt
Summary: As with any new relationship, Shepard and Liara can't seem to keep their hands to themselves.Takes place sometime between ME1 and ME2.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Comments: 5
Kudos: 120





	Almost Like Being in Love

Shepard peeked out from behind a large pile of smoking debris and made a dash for what appeared to have once been part of the hull for a small cargo ship. A bullet whizzed by her head as she ran, and another ricocheted off of her shields and tore a hole through the crate she had been hiding behind only a moment before. She popped her head over the large piece of metal she’d now claimed as her new cover and fired off a few shots at the first geth trooper she saw; it shuddered and collapsed to the ground in a sparking heap.

With a quick glance before ducking back down, Shepard could see at least two shock troopers and a sniper left lurking in the wreckage. Her heart pounded, flooding adrenaline to every inch of her body, and she almost grinned as she rose up to aim a well-placed shot right into the face of the geth sniper fixing its sights on her. As she lowered herself back behind the hull fragment again, she noticed a shadow passing on the ground next to her and looked up to see a hopper floating through the air in a singularity field. Before she could raise her own gun to finish it off, a shotgun blast tore through its midsection and sent it crumpling down to the ground.

She looked off to her left and saw Liara and Tali each crouched behind their own small bit of debris, using their biotic and tech abilities to draw the geth out and take them down one by one. Liara caught her eye, flashed her a smile, then grabbed one of the remaining shock troopers and flung it against what was left of the crashed cargo ship. Shepard didn’t even wait for it to hit the ground before she was on her feet, delivering the death blow. Beside her, Tali fried the systems of the only geth left standing and the three squad mates watched it fall, limp, to the ground.

The air around them was suddenly still and silent. For as far as Shepard or her crew could see, a fine cloud of red dust seemed to settle back down against the ground it had been stirred up from. Shepard took another look around the rocky landscape of Korar, checking for even the slightest movement or sound that would indicate they’d left any geth undealt with, and, finding nothing, she finally allowed her muscles to relax a little.

“You two good over there?” she called out.

“All good here, Shepard,” Tali replied.

“We’re fine, Shepard. Are you alright?”

“All limbs accounted for, Dr. T’Soni.”

She winked at Liara and turned to start looking through the wreckage for the shipping manifest and crew roster. Hackett hadn’t known much about the vessel other than that it had been attacked by geth, and Shepard wanted to make sure the families of whoever had been on board would get the closure they deserved. They hadn’t found any survivors, but she thought perhaps they could bring some peace to those left behind.

As she walked, she looked down to conduct a quick visual inspection of her armor for any damage. She realized very quickly that she wouldn’t have been able to see any damage to her suit, anyway; somehow, during the fight, she had become absolutely caked in the red dust characteristic of Korar’s surface. Shepard glanced back over at the other two members of her current Normandy squad and found them disappointingly clean. She began to grumble to herself, but was interrupted by the excited voice of Liara.

“I think I found something, Shepard!”

The commander turned to look over her shoulder and saw Liara focused intently on the contents of a datapad she had pulled out of the ship’s ruins. She was struck for a moment by the sight; a woman who, only months before, had spent most of her days digging through ancient ruins, looking for valuable artifacts and remnants of the past. Now, here she was, taking down reapers and geth and…digging through ruins. It made Shepard chuckle quietly, her cheeks flushing with affection.

Liara noticed her watching, and couldn’t help forming a hesitant smile to match.

“What?” she laughed, her own cheeks beginning to grow warm under Shepard’s gaze.

Shepard just smiled and shook her head as she walked over to take a look at the datapad. She stepped in just behind Liara, resting one hand on her shoulder, and placed her other hand overtop of Liara’s on the pad itself, pulling it closer so she could read its contents. The shipping manifest seemed to be intact, but they hadn’t yet found the crew roster, or so it would seem.

As she lowered the datapad back down she noticed Liara’s eyes glued unwaveringly to her, and in an instant, became suddenly aware of how closely together they were standing. So close, she could feel the light touch of Liara’s breath against her chin, and could see the subtle twitch of her lips as her gaze flitted down longingly to Shepard’s mouth. Though the fight had long been over, she felt her pulse accelerate once again.

“I’ve got the roster!” Tali called out from somewhere off in the distance.

Her voice snapped both of them back into action, and they each took a guilty step away from one another. They also each shared the same look of amusement when they realized what they’d done.

“That’s great, Tali!” Shepard responded, clearing her throat absently. “Find anything else interesting?”

“Not much. My scans aren’t showing anything useful. I think whatever this ship was hauling got destroyed in the crash.”

“Hmm,” Shepard mused, her gaze fixed once again on Liara. “Back to the ship, then?”

“Ready when you are.”

Shepard turned and started walking back toward the open ground where Joker had brought the Normandy to meet them, and Tali took the cue to do the same. She led the way, with Shepard and Liara trailing shortly behind her. As they crossed the dusty rock surface, kicking up more of the red powder with each step, Shepard felt Liara’s fingertips begin to gently brush her own, and she returned the playful touch as discreetly as possible. She looked to her right, met Liara’s eyes with a grin, and gently knocked their shoulders together.

“I can hear you two flirting back there,” Tali announced without breaking her stride. “You’re wearing armor.”

Despite the blush creeping back into her cheeks, Shepard couldn’t help laughing.

“Guilty,” she replied.

“I’m going to go on ahead to the ship. I don’t know if I can stand to be in the airlock with the two of you like this.”

“Sorry, Tali,” Shepard laughed again. “We’ll cool it.”

Tali waved her off, feigning annoyance, and made her way to the Normandy’s airlock. When she noticed the other two still following her, she left the door open and waited for them to join. Liara took a step forward, but Shepard caught her hand and pulled her back.

“Wait!” she whispered. “Before we go in, I just want to tell you something.”

Liara shot a glance over in Tali’s direction, as if checking to see whether or not they had an audience, then responded in a whisper of her own.

“What is it?”

Shepard removed her helmet, signaling for Liara to do the same.

“I really enjoy flirting with you,” she said quietly.

“Um…I enjoy it, too.” Liara seemed caught off guard by the direction of their conversation, but recovered quickly and managed a genuine, appreciative smile. “I enjoy it a lot, if I’m being honest.”

In response, the corners of Shepard’s mouth turned up in a sly grin.

“Doing it in front of other people, though…”

Liara could hear her own heartbeat echoing through her skull as Shepard leaned in next to her ear. She felt her breath, warm against her neck, with gentle puffs of air gliding across the ridges at the base of her crest. When Shepard began to whisper, her lips were so close she could feel them brushing against her skin, and it seemed to awaken each and every nerve ending in her body.

“…makes me feel so _dirty_.”

Liara swallowed quickly, her mouth suddenly feeling as dry as the ground they stood on. Shepard pulled back just enough for them to lock eyes again, and Liara could feel her senses flooding with desire, her hand reaching out almost reflexively towards Shepard’s waist. Briefly, she wondered why Shepard’s eyes still seemed so playful.

And then she felt a hand smack itself firmly against her chest, dragging downward, and leaving a trail of red dirt in its wake. She looked back up in shock, just in time for Shepard to dab a tiny bit of dust onto the tip of her nose, a proud grin spread from ear to ear. Liara reacted without thinking; just as suddenly as it had happened to her, she found herself wiping the dirt off of the front of her armor and rubbing a palmful of it across Shepard’s cheek.

The surprised snort this elicited was enough encouragement for her to reach down and grab another pinch of the dusty substance, this time sprinkling it into Shepard’s hair and laughing as the commander shook her head to fling it back in her direction. A few fistfuls of dirt later, Shepard had her lifted off of her feet and thrown over her shoulder, both of them nearly out of breath with laughter. Liara still had a smudge of dirt on her nose and a large, red handprint along the top of her crest, and Shepard was still shaking flecks of the stuff out of her hair and playfully attempting to wipe the side of her face on Liara’s armor while carrying her, triumphantly, back toward the Normandy.

To their even greater amusement, they found Tali still waiting for them in the airlock.

“Have you got it out of your system now?” she asked, looking them both over with a shake of her head. “It’s no secret I love a good romantic comedy, but…Keelah. You two are sickening.”

Shepard leaned over to plant an exaggerated kiss on the outside of Tali’s helmet.

“No need to be mad. There’s plenty of love left for you.”

“You’re only saying that so I won’t tell Joker about what I just witnessed.”

Shepard grinned and wiped a dirty handprint across her faceplate as the airlock closed behind them.

***

With their armor peeled off and left behind to be cleaned, Shepard and Liara trudged wearily down to the Normandy’s second deck, leaving Tali behind to inevitably give Joker even more ammunition for his relentless teasing about their budding relationship. They parted ways at the bottom of the stairs, but not before Shepard leaned over to sneak a kiss, which ended up lasting long enough for them to both pull away breathless.

Shepard’s eyes fluttered closed. When they opened again, she saw Liara walking off in the direction of the sick bay, throwing one final glance over her shoulder before disappearing into her makeshift quarters. Shepard sighed, whether dreamily or in disappointment she wasn’t sure, and turned to enter her own quarters. The door had barely closed behind her before she’d stripped down to nothing and plodded over to her bathroom, turning her shower on hot and steamy, and then climbed into the steady stream of water.

Rivulets of red sludge poured out of her hair and washed seemingly endlessly into the drain, and she leaned against the shower wall to give her tired muscles a brief respite from the chore of supporting her full weight. As her eyes drifted shut, she heard the door to her quarters slide open.

“Whoever it is,” she called, “come back later.”

“Shepard, I need your help.”

That voice belonged to the one person Shepard might be persuaded to interrupt her shower for.

“Liara?” she called, taking a tentative step out from under the water. “What do you need help with?”

The bathroom door slid open, and Liara stepped in, dust still streaked across her face and clothes. She peered up at Shepard, reached up to grab her by the chin and kissed her, backing her up into the shower stream once again.

“I’m dirty,” she whispered with a mischievous grin.

Shepard felt a surge of heat flood through her veins as Liara’s dress became soaked under the hot water, growing tight around her breasts and revealing taut nipples that she couldn’t resist touching. She began to peel the dress off, running her hands hungrily over each inch of skin as it revealed itself, and finally let the garment fall to the floor beneath them. Her fingertips found their hold around Liara’s hips, pulling them against her. In response, a breathy sigh of anticipation escaped from between Liara’s lips, and as she kissed them, she felt another rush of arousal engulf her senses.

“So,” she said between kisses, now drifting her lips down the side of Liara’s neck, “that did it for you, huh?”

Liara laughed and pushed her back against the shower wall.

“Don’t act like that wasn’t your intention all along.”

She held a finger to Shepard’s lips and began her own trail of kisses underneath Shepard’s ear, against her hastening pulse, her throat, her collarbone. Shepard opened her mouth and sucked gently on the tip of her finger, enough to draw Liara’s attention back to her lips once more.

“Well,” she murmured, “it’s certainly not an…undesired outcome.”

Shepard reached out to once again pull Liara’s hips against her, then slid her hand between her legs and watched her eyes flutter shut. She pushed inside, slowly at first, then felt Liara’s hand come to rest overtop of hers, guiding her in intensity and pushing her faster, closer. She turned to rest Liara against the shower wall, helping her stay on her feet as a moan poured from inside her, cloaked with a need for something more.

Tendrils of sensation flickered at the edge of her awareness, and she opened her mind to allow Liara to come flooding into every inch of her being. She felt every thrust, every pulse, every gasp as if it were her own, and she kissed Liara deeply to fill them both with the sense of love and connection she held so dear. She could feel her teetering on the edge, the euphoric high within reach, Liara’s fingertips digging into the backs of her arms and sending pleasant, painful shocks through her system. And with another push, she felt herself tip over, into the abyss, clinging to Liara as they both shuddered with pleasure and savored the intimacy the meld granted them.

Shepard panted, breathless, against Liara’s neck, feeling light kisses brush against her ear and cheek; anywhere Liara’s lips could reach from where the two of them stood, tangled together amidst the steam of the shower spray. She raised her eyes to meet Liara’s with a smile, and kissed her once again, gently and affectionately.

“I really like you, Liara T’Soni,” she said quietly, reaching up to wipe a stubborn smudge off red grime off of the top of Liara’s head. “Dirt and all.”

Liara smiled back at her, eyes wide and sparkling.

“I think I love you,” she replied.

Shepard paused, taking in the sight of her, the feeling of being with her, the hope she had for a future they might share together. She grinned, her heart thudding inside her chest as elation swept her off balance.

“I think I love you, too.”


End file.
